The invention relates to the field of printers.
Various devices that incorporate data processors or are coupled to data processing networks require a users active participation in connection with operations. The extent of required participation differs, depending on the type of device. In connection with printing devices such as laser printers, color printers, photocopiers, facsimile machines and combination devices with print capabilities, the user""s participation may involve relatively complex operations.
One type of operation involves setup procedures. These can include setting various default conditions, selecting options for a particular job such as paper size or orientation, color calibration steps, entering source or destination information, and various other selections. A different kind of operation that advantageously relies on actions by the user may involve diagnostic and fault recovery procedures, namely identifying, isolating and correcting operational problems, a familiar example being the clearing of paper jams. A third type of operation may concern regular maintenance procedures such as changing supplies of toner or other pigment, cleaning print heads and paper paths, etc.
For high volume and/or high speed printers and other devices, the extent of user involvement is higher than for less capable devices because there are more options, e.g., for selection of media size or orientation, collating of multiple copy output and the like. There are also more potential trouble spots, because each added choice or capability is likely to have one or more associated actuators, switches, alternative paper paths or other element that may occasionally cause a fault condition or need service. There are also other complications, such as the possible fitting out of such devices with options that may need to be installed or debugged in a relatively unique or customized way. Sometimes such unique aspects include third party or aftermarket additions, which might be supplied by parties other than the original manufacture.
High capacity printers, photocopiers and multipurpose sheet and image processing devices typically have a cabinet with access doors, removable drawers or cartridges, and a user interface display device of some kind. The doors and drawers, and other movable parts, often have associated limit switches or photodetector source/detector pairs for providing a signal to a controller to sense and indicate their states and/or positions. Strategic points along one or more paper paths may have similar sensors for monitoring the progress of a job involving movement of paper, paper feeders, printing heads or other movable elements. A controller coupled to such switches and sensors infers information about the apparatus, and may signal an alert in the event of various conditions. Such an alert could point out an impending condition such as xe2x80x9ctoner supply low,xe2x80x9d or a condition likely to prevent proper operation such as xe2x80x9cpaper cartridge not loadedxe2x80x9d or may indicate the occurrence of a fault such as xe2x80x9cpaper jam.xe2x80x9d Such apparatus can be sophisticated about detecting the nature of such problems and in signaling to the attendant where the problem lies.
The printer controller provides triggering signals to activate actuators, and monitors operations based on the sensor signals, according to a stored program. The program is affected by the respective sensors and also by the dictates of inputs such as user-operated switches or stored data or data received from an eternally-coupled processor, network or other data source. Before commencing a print operation, the controller might sense the state or position of the printer""s doors or functional parts, the presence of paper cartridges or paper therein, and otherwise determine whether the printer is in condition for operation. If the printer is not ready, an alarm or other message signals the user and points out the deficiency (e.g., paper supply empty or cabinet door open, etc.).
During a print operation, the controller might sense the progress of the paper along a feed path that is expected based upon the activation of various actuators that are intended to feed paper along a predetermined path when operating properly. The controller senses for the progress of the print medium according to a programmed sequence of expected paper positions and perhaps expected time delays, based on the controller""s signals for effecting paper feed and other similar printing operations. Even if a print operation was commenced normally, the apparent failure of the print medium (e.g., a sheet of paper) to progress from one expected position to a next expected position within a given time, may be sensed and caused to trigger an alarm or other message signal. Additionally, operation of the printer may be suspended until some action is detected that is expected and necessary according to the controller program, such as opening and closing a cabinet door or removing a piece of paper from some position at which it is considered jammed.
Sensed deficiencies in initial condition, and operational faults during printer operation, advantageously generate an alarm and also present sufficient information on the nature and location of the fault to enable the attendant to identify and correct many types of faults. Several techniques are used to identify the location of a fault. For example, warning lamps may be mounted at selected positions on the apparatus, including at paper path positions normally concealed behind cabinet doors. The lamps are illuminated by the controller to indicate to a user that attention is needed at that particular location, e.g., along a feed path or so as to maintain a nearby element of the printer.
Similar location-identifying warnings can be displayed physically apart from the printer mechanism on an analogous diagram or the like. For example, a light emitting diode (LED) or liquid crystal display (LCD) panel on some apparatus depicts an outline of all or part of the printer, such as the access doors and/or the paper feed path, with controllable light emitters, blinking LCD display lines or the like to show the area that needs attention.
Diagnostic displays as described tend to alert the attendant and can help to localize problems. The displays can have some specific instructions involved, for example blinking or animating the opening of a panel or door in the area of a jam to be cleared. However, such displays have a predetermined and fixed level of detail. The display normally does not expound on the nature of a problem. For users that have never encountered a particular problem before and thus lack any frame of reference, a diagrammatic display may be inadequate. A textual display also may fail to instruct the user sufficiently to enable correction of the problem because it assumes that the user knows certain minimal things such as the location of the access doors. More complex displays are possible, for example with blinking diagrams, text and other aspects, but this also can be baffling to an inexperienced user.
On the other hand, an experienced user may find detailed information to be annoying. Simple warnings and displays are most helpful to experienced users, who have previously encountered a problem in the identified location and have an idea about how to deal with it. It would be advantageous to provide a form of warning and instruction that is apt for users of a wide range of experience levels. That is, warning and instruction techniques need to be rich in detail for novices and at the same time should permit an experienced user to quickly and efficiently proceed to correction of a given condition.
Photocopy machines and similar print devices are known with relatively extensive LCD displays of text and diagrams. Such a display that includes sensed condition display elements and extensive diagnostic text descriptions and instructions is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,314,249 and 6,185,379xe2x80x94Lay et al. These text descriptions and instructions are helpful but require some knowledge of the structure of the printer and some feel for the terminology. Also, the descriptions may be more information than the user wants or needs, which can be tedious.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,400,462xe2x80x94Hille, a printer is serviced using information and programming contained in an external device. This can provide the capability to address for very specific error conditions, and at times to localize problems to a particular element that is not functioning properly and needs to be adjusted, repaired or replaced. A control panel such as a 128xc3x9764 pixel LCD panel is provided on the printer and provides an interface for usual printing operations. The printer is coupleable to a programmed printer service tool that resembles a laptop computer. The tool is coupled in data communication with the printer controller and enables more sophisticated diagnostic techniques than the printer controller is programmed to handle on its own.
According to the technique in Hille, a printer controller could report to the service tool a code or bit string that reveals the state of the printer sensors. The controller might also provide associated information, for example, defining not only the printer model but also reporting all the specific optional parts that are installed. The controller can also report all the options and default settings that it may have stored in memory, and can even report a log of sensed conditions over time. All this information can be made available to the program of the service tool. The information assists in diagnosing the nature of the difficulty and determining necessary action to correct problems.
The Hille service tool has a plurality of locally stored hypertext markup language pages and operates an html browser to assist a human user in selecting information files that relate to codes read from the printer controller, or other information concerning the printer. Apart from the stored pages, which presumably are relatively verbose, the service tool displays abbreviated codes that represent status reports as to certain optional modes and/or modules. In the disclosed embodiment, the service tool has indicators for at least some printer modes (e.g., xe2x80x9cmanualxe2x80x9d mode is indicated by a display code xe2x80x9cMNLxe2x80x9d and the presence of a printer cartridge is indicated by xe2x80x9cCSNSxe2x80x9d).
The service tool also has indicators to report that certain signals are found to be presents (e.g., xe2x80x9cHVACxe2x80x9d represents the presence of a high voltage signal and xe2x80x9cDPLXxe2x80x9d reports that the printer is in duplex mode, i.e., on-line). The technician uses the tool to produce a set of informational codes and status indicators that explain the printer""s operational condition, and/or references stored html information pages and links based on the error codes that are reported.
Ideally, the Hille service tool stores in its local memory one or more linked html pages explaining the nature of each possible error code and describing in detail how to correct the problem(s) encountered. The disclosed service tool also can be connected to the Internet periodically to download from the manufacturer any new information or upgrades that may become available. This information is potentially extensive. By permitting the technician to drill through a series of linked html pages, it entails a selected level of detail. However the detail assumes substantial knowledge on the part of the technician. The information is substantially for the benefit of service calls and not for normal operational part of the printer, for example to clear paper jams or for help in finding out where and how to load paper or toner, etc.
In connection with certain widely distributed software products, help functions are included that contain demonstrations of where to find, and how to make, menu choices. An example is the animated paper-clip helper or wizard icon that can be invoked in certain Microsoft products such as MS Word. That software product offers context-based menu choices to the user. In certain instances, the software reacts to user selections by taking control and moving the cursor to demonstrate menu selections. This is a form of demonstration that might be used in the control interface of a printer or the like, but it falls short of demonstrating the sort of information that the user really needs, for example to load paper or to change a toner cartridge or to partially disassemble the paper feed mechanism so as to clear a paper jam at a sensed location, etc. This sort of information includes details that experienced users may not even think about, such as the location of the most routine things, such as access doors and handles, and which information is quite difficult to explain using diagrams and software icons.
An improved system for providing information to a user is desired.
A printer such as a network printer or a peripheral printer coupled to a processor with a video demonstration mode, preferably using a control console of the printer, displays selected digital video files from a store of selections. Advantageously, in addition to the capability to select and play back a selection, the printer also has the capacity to download or otherwise accept new selections, for example associated with upgrades, updates or specific customized program video files, which might be new offerings of the printer manufacturer, or selections provided by a different manufacturer of an after market add-on product. The printer can be a digital printer, copier, fax printer, or multipurpose device, having a mechanism for applying markings and a sheet handler, wherein at least certain operations require steps to be performed by a human user. The control console or another display or readout is provided, capable of reproducing a video presentation. A stored selection of video clips is stored or made available, each of the video clips containing a demonstration of an operation being performed on an exemplary printer that resembles said printer apparatus. Preferably, a video clip processor selects among the video clips and/or controls the manner of playback, based on sensed conditions and/or user input. This presentation of a demonstration assists the human user in performing the operation, without boring experienced users or overloading inexperienced ones with unneeded information.
The media clips (e.g., video clips) can be stored in a local memory or downloaded, either for updating or on demand. The clips can be provided in various forms and preferable are short compressed digital video files in a conventional format. Advantageously, many of the clips target normal operational functions such as adding toner or paper, changing a paper size or cartridge type, etc. Preferably, the clips also encompass directions for dealing with exigencies such as clearing paper jams. Some clips can be directed to very specific, unusual or abnormal conditions, failures and the like. It is particularly advantageous in the case of rarely needed clips to provide for the possibility of downloading them from a remote store or otherwise adding such clips to the selections available for display, e.g., by loading a compact disc (CD) drive or the like into the printer.
For example, in a relatively rare case such as where a user desires to add memory capacity to the printer, the memory media (e.g., circuit cards, Single In-Line Memory Modules (SIMMs), etc.) could be provided to the user together with media adapted for display of installation and debugging instructions. Thus the user can play back instructions on the printer as to how to effect and test the memory upgrade. Other examples of this use should be apparent as well.
The clips that are stored or provided can be solely visual, or solely audio, but preferably are a combination of video and audio tracks. In the case of audio and video, the tracks can both contain the video demonstration and sounds of an exemplary user demonstrating the subject matter of the clip. The tracks thus might include the sound of doors opening and parts snapping together, etc. The exemplary user can be recorded discussion what he or she is demonstrating or a voice-over track or background music or other material can be employed. Where the tracks contain speech, they can be provided in one or in several selectable languages. The tracks also can contain unrelated audio and video segments. All these combinations and options are generally described herein as the xe2x80x9cmediaxe2x80x9d that is stored or downloaded or otherwise made available for playback.